Two explosionsThey tied up at least 103 peopleand injured dozens more, at a memorial ceremony in Iran dedicated to the fourth anniversary of the US assassination of Qassem Suleimani, the head of Iran’s Quds Force, and one of the most powerful men in the Middle East. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack, the deadliest against Iran since its 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Eyewitness reports spoke of two explosions 10 minutes apart in the south-central city of Kerman, while some reports spoke of four different explosions, suggesting the incident was a highly sophisticated attack. According to Irna News, the first explosion occurred 700 meters from Suleimani burial siteand the second was a kilometer away.
Iran has multiple enemies that could be behind the attack, including groups of exiles, militant organizations and state actors. And a representative of Kerman province accused Israeli agents of committing the crime. Kianush Jahanpur, former spokesman for Iran’s Ministry of Health, wrote in concordance on social media: “The response to this crime should only be in Tel Aviv and Haifa.”
Iran had recently reported that it had eradicated a group backed by the Mossad, the secret service of the Israeli State. And some analysts said it was unusual for Israel to undertake a widespread attack on civilians without high-level military targets, and therefore did not fit a previous pattern of behavior. In turn, Israel rarely comments on international operations.
On December 25, an Israeli airstrike in Syria killed a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran (IRGC), prompting Tehran to threaten that Israel would “certainly pay” for its actions. Iranian state media identified the commander as Razi Mousavi, a senior adviser to the Quds Force.
by RN
